Friday, April 29, 2016

What teenagers read in 1916. Adults were worried even then.

Scofield
(1916) described books selected by high school students enrolled in an elective
class called "outside reading." Students were required to read four
to seven books, depending on the books selected, keep a notebook and make an
oral report at the end of the semester.A book list of 300 books was made available and students were allowed to
read books not on the list, "but few did so." (p.548).Students were not allowed to select books
required for a course.

Scofield
presented a list of the most frequently selected books.Scofield's description is very revealing:
"An examination of these titles shows that the students have selected far
better literature than we might expect from some of the assertions we hear
about the habits of high-school pupils" (p. 545).

Even
one hundred years ago, people were concerned that young people were not reading
"good" books.Scolding teenagers is nothing new (Krashen,
2011).

Among
the top ten: Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, The Call of the Wild, The Last of
the Mohicans, Kidnapped.